Archie Bunker's Place


Archie Bunker's Place is an American sitcom television series produced as a spin-off continuation of All in the Family. It aired on CBS from September 23, 1979, to April 4, 1983. While not as popular as its predecessor, the show maintained a large enough audience to last for four seasons. It performed so well during its first season that it displaced Mork & Mindy from its Sunday night time slot

Background

Although the Bunker home continued to be featured, the scenes were primarily set in the title's neighborhood tavern in Astoria, Queens which Archie Bunker purchased in the series' eighth-season premiere of All in the Family. During the first season as Archie Bunker's Place, Bunker takes on a Jewish partner, Murray Klein, when co-owner Harry Snowden decides to sell his share of the business. Early in the first season, to increase business, Archie and Murray build a restaurant onto the bar; the additions include a separate seating area for the restaurant and a well-equipped kitchen with a service window. The regular patrons include Barney Hefner, Hank Pivnik, and Edgar Van Ranseleer.
Archie Bunker's Place was the sounding board for Archie's views, support from his friends, and Murray's counterpoints. Later in the series, after Murray remarries and leaves for San Francisco, Archie finds a new business partner, Gary Rabinowitz, whose views were liberal, in contrast to Archie's political conservatism.

Characters

"Unlike All in the Family, which took place largely in the Bunker family home, Archie Bunker's Place was set primarily in the local tavern Archie owned, and was not filmed with a live studio audience." Instead, the show was shot on a closed set with multiple cameras, with the best takes being edited together utilizing a laugh track. The finished product was then shown to live audiences attending tapings of One Day at a Time, thus providing a laugh track from real laughter for the show.
Production of all seasons of Archie Bunker's Place took place at Studios 31 and 33 at CBS Television City in Hollywood, the original production home of All in the Family for that show's first six seasons.
The theme song for Archie Bunker's Place was a re-scored instrumental version by Ray Conniff of "Those Were the Days," the long-familiar opening theme to All in the Family. The closing theme, "Remembering You," was a re-scored version of All in the Family's closing theme. Both versions featured a Dixieland-styled arrangement. The opening credits featured a view of the Queensboro Bridge, which connects Manhattan to Queens, followed by shots taken along Steinway Street in Astoria.
Carroll O'Connor was frustrated over the cancellation when the show didn't have an appropriate closure. He vowed never to work in any type of show with CBS again, although he starred in In the Heat of the Night, which aired on CBS in that show's last two seasons and four TV films.
The series was briefly rerun on TV Land in 2002 and 2003, including the unaired Gloria pilot. The last episode did air in a marathon along with the final episodes of All in the Family, The Jeffersons and Gloria. The series is currently shown on Antenna TV as of August 2018.
Whereas All in the Family had been inspired by a British series, Till Death Us Do Part, Archie Bunker's Place would eventually inspire creator Johnny Speight to produce a sequel to the British series. In Sickness and in Health aired in the UK from 1985 to 1992. Several of the episodes were adapted from the American series.

Episodes

Notable episodes

The series' most notable episode among critics was "Archie Alone," which originally aired November 2, 1980, as a one-hour special to open the second season of the series. In that episode, viewers learn that Edith had died of a stroke a month earlier, and Archie is unable to grieve. His refusal to let go of his emotions takes its toll on Stephanie, until one day Archie finds a single slipper of Edith's in the bedroom. Holding the shoe, Archie laments aloud that Edith slipped away before he could tell her he loved her, and finally breaks down and cries. Later, after a talk with Stephanie, he agrees to take her to visit Edith's grave, fulfilling the request Stephanie had made to Archie at the beginning of the episode. The British TV series In Sickness and in Health, the continuation of Till Death Us Do Part on which All in the Family was based, had a similar episode in which Edith's British counterpart, Else Garnett, had died from natural causes. This was not a case of one series copying another; both series were forced to write these deaths due to unexpected departures by the actresses.
The first-season episode "Thanksgiving Reunion" marked the final time the original ensemble from All in the Family—O'Connor, Stapleton, Sally Struthers and Rob Reiner—appeared together. In that episode, Mike announces that he has lost his job as a college professor after his participation in a nude protest of a proposed nuclear power plant becomes public. This puts a further strain on his already troubled marriage to Gloria, and foreshadows the Stivics' divorce.
Another notable episode was "The Return of Sammy," when Sammy Davis Jr. comes to the bar and restaurant after Archie calls up his talk show. He, like Murray, is surprised that Archie has a Jewish niece. Later, when Sammy chokes on some food, Archie uses the Heimlich maneuver to save Sammy's life. At the end of the episode, Archie and Stephanie simultaneously kiss Sammy, contrasting what happened in the parent show's episode "Sammy's Visit."
In a special 1982 episode, which aired immediately after the Super Bowl, baseball superstar Reggie Jackson almost sues Archie, but decides not to when Jackson realizes the bad press would hurt his career.
Later, comedian Don Rickles guest-starred as a crusty boarder named Al Snyder, who rented a room from Archie's friend and neighbor Barney, whose wife Blanche had left him sometime earlier. Highlights of this episode are exchanges combining Rickles' insult humor and his character's curmudgeonly disposition with Archie's sincere but misguided efforts to resolve disputes between Snyder and Barney. Eventually, the Rickles character is exhausted by the constant chatter and decides to rest. The Rickles character drifts off to sleep and dies. The episode ends with Barney pondering whether he'll wind up like Mr. Snyder: "Sore at the world, 'cause I'm all alone."

Archie's last appearance

The last scene in which Archie Bunker ever appears comes in the episode, I'm Torn Here.  He is at the bar with bartender Harry Snowden and regular patron Mr. Van Ranseleer, recounting a dream he had:
Archie:  "So, at the end of the dream, the president ushers me right into the Oval Office."
Mr. Van R:  "What happened?"
Archie: "Well, sitting around on the floor is the 20 mules from the Death Valley Days."
Mr. Van R:  "Sounds like his Cabinet."
Archie: "Jeez, I guess that's who they was because one of 'em takes off his nosebag -- and it's George Bush!  And he says the way to tame El Salvador is to make the damn place into the 49th state."
Mr. Van R: "Was there any music in this dream?"
Archie: "No, but there was a toilet flush.  That's what woke me up."

Home media

released The Complete First Season of Archie Bunker's Place on DVD in North America on January 31, 2006.
On August 27, 2013, it was announced that Mill Creek Entertainment had acquired the home media rights to various television series from the Sony Pictures library including Archie Bunker's Place. On July 7, 2015, Mill Creek re-released the first season on DVD.

Cultural references

"Eulogy and Tavern," the 12th chapter of Jonathan Lethem's novel Dissident Gardens, is set within the world of the television show. One of the book's main characters, Rose, begins frequenting a bar called Kelcy's on Northern Boulevard near her home in Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, where she befriends the owner, Archie Bunker, and eventually tries to seduce him with her old Communist rhetoric. The chapter includes appearances by series-regulars Barney Hefner, Hank Pivnik, Edgar Van Ranseleer, Harry Snowden and Stephanie Mills.